Old Route 66 still runs through Springfield as Sixth Street, and on a July afternoon the heat comes up off that pavement in sheets while the mower works the shade side of the yard. JP's Lawn Care, Inc. handles the growing season here, mowing, trimming, edging and blowing off the walks week after week, from the first flush of April to the last cut in November. Summers on the prairie are humid and long, and grass answers by growing straight through them. The trick is showing up on schedule, cutting high enough to hold through a dry spell, and leaving a yard that looks finished rather than merely shortened. There is a plain pleasure in a lawn that reads clean from the curb as you drive away.